The LR Baggs Para Acoustic D.I. is one of the best devices you can purchase if you are playing acoustic live music with a pickup in your instrument. This little box contains a 5-band equalizer, tunable notch, presence, and midrange controls, adjustable gain, and phase inversion along with being a fully functional direct input box that allows output of either 1/4 inch or XLR to plug into the PA/soundboard. It runs on a 9 volt battery, and gets incredible battery life at that.

This box is really an acoustic musician’s dream come true. I play the banjo, and it takes what would otherwise be a harsh electric sounding tone, and transforms it into a warm, realistic, and convincing acoustic sound. It also gives you the ability to custom tailor your tone, infinitely. Depending on the PA/monitor setup, you can tweak the frequency emphasis to highlight or cut any range. Anyone that plays live acoustic music will know that most sound people usually don’t get the instruments equalized all that well. This device enables you to give them a huge head start, by passing them a quality signal that’s already EQ’d to your preference. I’d be willing to bet that they are loved as much by sound professionals as they are by the musicians themselves. I’ve seen this device used with great results for acoustic guitar, bass, fiddle/violin, mandolin, cello, accordion, etc, etc.

Durability is exactly what you’d expect from a piece of professional grade stage gear. I’d be willing to bet that it could be run over by a car and still function. I’ve seen these units after years on the road, and they are only missing some of their brown paint.

The size is also a huge benefit here. It’s just slightly larger than your average guitar pedal, which makes it really convenient to throw in a gig bag. Similar systems by other companies cost much more and require rack mounting. This isn’t to say that those other devices won’t give you better sound and more flexibility, but this box is all that 90% of stage musicians will ever need out of an EQ unit/DI box.

I really haven’t been able to find a downside to this thing over the past year and a half that I’ve been using it. I will amend this post if I have anything else to add down the road…